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Mr. President,
We thank the Permanent Mission of Estonia for holding this year's annual debate of the Security Council on "Children and Armed Conflict".
We also thank the Secretary-General, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and other briefers for their insightful statements.
Mr. President,
Millions of children are caught up in conflicts in which they are not merely bystanders, but deliberate targets. While some fall victim to a general onslaught against civilians; others die as part of a calculated genocide. Still other children suffer the effects of sexual violence or the multiple deprivations of armed conflict that expose them to hunger or disease.
The facts revealed in the Secretary-General's latestreport (S/2021/437)are quite somber.
Theoverall number of grave violations remained alarmingly high at 26,425.These violations include the continued killing and maiming of children, the recruitment and use of child soldiers, sexual violence and abduction, attacks against schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access.
The report further revealed that theongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated difficulties in the protection of children affected by armed conflicts, with humanitarian agencies finding it hard to conduct their work safely.
Whatever the causes of modern-day brutality towards children, the time hascome to call a halt.These acts must end, and perpetrators must be held to account.
Mr. President,
Despite some progress in recent years, the scale and intensity of today's conflicts is stretching our capacity to protect children.
In conflict zones and occupied territories, we are witnessing a deeply troubling breakdown in humanity and diminishing respect for human life and dignity.
Nowhere is this grim reality starker than in today's Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
In this regard, I wish to draw the Council's attention to the Secretary General's latest report which has expressed deep concerns on the "grave violations" against children in occupied Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian security forces.
The report also raises alarm on the continued illegal detention of (Kashmiri) children, torture in detention and detention without charge or due process.
In view of these serious concerns, the Secretary-General has rightly urged the Indian Government to "immediately end" such practices and take "preventive measures" to protect children, including by "ending the use of pellets against children" in IIOJK.
Mr. President,
We are not surprised by the findings of the Secretary-General's report.
Despite the persistent concerns raised by multiple Special Rapporteurs and Mandate Holders of the Human Rights Council and the SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict, the human rights and humanitarian situations continues to deteriorate for the innocent children of IIOJK since 05 August 2019.
During the year 2020, we continued to witness some of the worst atrocities and state terrorism taking place in IIOJK:
In a particularly horrifying incident, a gut-wrenching picture of a three-year-old Kashmiri boy sitting on the body of his grandfather (Muhammad Bashir) killed by the Indian forces went viral on the internet, drawing ire from social media and civil society. The three-year-old boy was shown sitting on top of his motionless grandfather as he cried.
Such inhuman actions are not only in violation of the UNSC resolutions on Children and Armed Conflict but are also in breach of the "best interests of the child" principle under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a state party.
The worsening situation and increased attacks against children in IIOJK, as reported in the latest report of the Secretary-General, calls for Security Council's intervention by holding India accountable for its grave breaches of international humanitarian law and war crimes in IIOJK.
Mr. President,
Pakistan fully supports the mandate of the Special Representative, which is adequate to deal with situations of armed conflict. We want to strengthen the political consensus around it but the mandate does not need accretion.
We firmly believe that the legal parameters of the mandate established by the Security Council resolutions must be respected. Our singular focus should continue to remain on situation of "armed conflicts".We hope that this principle would be kept in mind while preparing future reports.
I thank you.